Sydney Stories - Week 10

Hello,

Yet another crazy week at work - Thanks to Ram Navami!!

Uma's passport update finally came through this week. Hopefully Nandha's passport should now be available in a couple of weeks time. Targeting for end of April - early May to get all the formalities done. 

This weekend went to an interesting Malaysian restaurant in Parramatta. It was kind of impulsive decision to eat Malaysian last night and I was glad that I did it. Had the best Mee Goreng so far. I've tried it a couple of times in US (once in Portland and once in Tucson), both the times it was a disaster. The other few times was in Melbourne in the food court in Melbourne Central mall, which was quite alright. So anyway it was a pleasant surprise. The mee was made with chicken and a mix of sea food as well. Interestingly they had curry leaves in the noodles. :-)

In the train I saw a perfectly pink caucasian adorning a bindi, gold earings and bangles. It was interesting to see that when these days our ladies either dont have a bindi or have it in such a way that it is almost invisible. 

This weekend I tried the Assamee style fish aval puttu. It was quite simple actually. Boiled a red snapper fish (which was in a fillet form - no skins and bones)  for about 5 minutes until it was all white, but not too tender. Drained it and mashed it. Sauteed some onions and green chillies and turmeric. Added a bit of all masalas available (garam masala, cumin powder, coriander powder), salt and red chilly powder. Added the mashed fish and sauteed for a little while. That was it. Oh yes, added a generous amount of curry leaves as well. Am not sure if it was exactly the way my SIL made it but am sure it is pretty close.

Easter long weekend coming up. Don't have any major plans. Might catch up with my school friend and my uncle here had suggested that we meet at least once during the 4 days.

Oki doki. Have a great week.

Chetty

Sydney Stories - Week 9

Hello,

Am a little late this time with my story, however with a good reason. ;-)

The week started off well with all the usual issues, running around chasing up stuff. What did throw me off a bit was when I was bombarded with 2000+ emails in one day on Wednesday. One of my customers did something with a software which is supposed to trigger automatic emails. Whatever she did, the software started sending out emails from history. Getting bombed with 2000 emails in a day was not a joke. First thing, my Outlook crashed. It just couldn't take the load since some of them had huge 3-4 mb attachments. The email server crashed for a few hours. THANKFULLY I did not turn that switch on. Oh well that was enough adventure at work for the week.

This was yet another interesting week as well. On Monday I decided to visit my cousin and family in Brisbane. Found a decent enough airfare for the weekend. The only thing was that I had to fly on Thursday night. Booked the tickets once I got the confirmation that I can WFH (Work from home) on Friday. On Thursday, I had a huge dilemma. Just couldn't decide between - whether to go to the airport directly from work or come back home before leaving for the airport. The case was strong either way. The airport is a 10 minute train ride from office. It made sense to leave from there. However, decided against it. Left home at around 7 PM and reached the airport by 8.30 pm. 

The airports in Australia seemed a little lax on the security front - meaning anybody (not just the passengers) can come up to the gate. US used to be like this pre-9-11. Was interesting to see that one can still do that here. There was absolutely no checking on any form of ID anywhere. Maybe if I had approached the counter to get the boarding pass they might've. The best part of the flight was I got an aisle seat in the first row. These airlines (what they call as Low Cost Carriers)  do not have the concept of first class. So its purely luck and timing for one to get such a seat. It was good feeling to be the first one to get out of the flight. :-) Sitting next to me on the other aisle was a pilot who was probably taking his ride back home. He was reading some novel right after we settled down. When the fligth crew started the saftely instructions he religously stopped reading and paid attention to the instructions. That was WOW - living by example.

I had finished reading up on the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People during the week. A great book indeed. Got a few good reminders. I think I will be reading that every once in a while when life gets confusing. Picked up Dan Brown's Angels and Demons from the office book library. There is a fair amount of variety for a free library, with probably about 40-50 books. It's going good, more about that once I am done with it. It kept me company for the short 1.5 hr flight to Brisbane. Reached Brisbane at 10.30 PM. Yes, Brisbane and Sydney even though on the same time zone does not follow Day Light Savings. So right now Brisbane is an hour behind Sydney. My cousin picked my up from the airport which was about 15 minutes away from his place. Had a late dinner. My SIL had prepared an interesting fish dish. It was somewhere between a puttu and aval. Liked it heaps (as the Aussies put it). Had to bug her quite a bit to get the recipe which I finally got in the last day.

Friday was alright. I was working from Brisbane. Had to attend a few conference calls, a few emails and the day was done. Caught up with my nieces a bit. They were all quite busy with their studies and exams. After a bit of persistence from my side, I was served the "snapper aval puttu" for lunch. Friday evening caught up with my cousin with grilled chicken wings with a home made sauce on the side. Saturday was cool. In the morning the whole family was involved in making Tiramisu - an Italian coffee based desert. Talking about coffee my cousin has a barista style coffee maker at home. Every morning he fills it in with fresh beans, roasted, powdered and coffeeed. Wow...now that was some luxury. :-) Coming back to Tiramisu - one of the deadliest desserts. Deadly is so many ways. Will leave it to your imagination. ;-) Later in the day we went to Sirromet vineyard. Did a bit of wine tasting. My first lesson into wine tasting in fact. Not sure if I got all the flavours they talked about, but yes some flavours were strong and distinct. We were accompanied by one of my SIL's relative who stays in Brisbane. Dinner was yet another treat. Pulao, masala naan, butter chicken and channa masala. Yes of course the dessert was Tiramisu.

Sunday morning I woke up quite early. My body clock was still on Sydney time. Since nobody else was caught up with Angels and Demons until I heard someone walking around. Day started with fresh brew coffee as usual. Went for a short walk to the local corner shop for Sunday news paper. A tradition for my cousin I believe. Karne their dog accompanied us as well. She's a well disciplined labrador who earns for attention every once in a while. Brisbane has a unique architecture of home - what they call as queenslanders. Basically wooden houses built on stilts which can be relocated elsewhere easily if required. Later in the morning helped my cousin with his lawn moving. That was a first as well. It wasn't too tiring as such but a good work out. Breakfast was yet another sinful treat with blueberry pancakes. Wow...he prepares that with passion. :-) Just had 2 of them and I had to skip lunch. Later in the day went on a drive down to Gold Coast. It was claimed to be the Las Vegas of Australia - well that was a long shot. I would probably say close to San Francisco for the touristy things (not by size). Maybe I would've had a different opinion if I had visited during the night. On the way back stopped at Mt Coot - Tha. It is a look out point with a nice view of Brisbane city. Later in the evening was treated to "The Story of India" by Michael Woods. Couldn't finish both the DVDs since had to retire early. Dinner was yummy prawn curry, an assamese style brinjal with potato curry and a bit of left overs from the previous night. I could squeeze out the recipe for the "snapper aval puttu", but couldn't get the one for the prawn curry. I was told it is "complicated". Hmm...ok maybe next time. :-)

Monday morning had an early morning flight back to Sydney. Reached office at 10.30 AM. The moment I stepped foot well....weekend was already history. My team member was all ready with problems for me to tackle. Oh well...that's for next week.

Appreciate your patience.:-)

Chetty

Sydney Stories - Week 7

Hi There,

Hope you had a good week and a good weekend.

Anybody who wants to find a job in Australia will be asked one question - do you have Australian experience? Doesn't matter if the person had worked for 10 - 15 years in several other countries. Aussie experience is a must. I used to wonder why it was so and then realized there IS something with the way people work here. It's about resistance to CHANGE. I would call Australia the "Museum Country". You don't have to go in search of museums to look for historical artifacts - it is there everywhere. They maintain their "history" very well. For eg., in Sydney's Town Hall station there are few escalators which have wooden steps. They probably must've been built while escalators were first invented in the early part of 20th century. Some of the trains that run are probably 30 years old. 

Talking about trains and TownHall I think I have figured out the exits from TownHall station. Now I have my favourite compartment in the train. Which if I board will take me closest to the exit that I need to take. However this applies only for the route from home to work (and vice versa). If ever I need to catch the train for somewhere else...well the saga continues. :-)

This week I had a change to my grocery shopping strategy. Decided to buy the veggies required only for 1 week - thanks to the wastages. Menu for this week - Bhindi Masala and Kadai Chicken. Had a bit of a "chef's block" before I could decide on what to cook. ;-) Both of them turned out quite alright. I was happy with the chicken that it was cooked to just the right texture.  

Saw the movie - Water by Deepa Mehta on the World Movies channel. WOW.  Wonder why such movies don't make commercial success. Probably because it brought to light a few of the dirty secrets of Hinduism? 

On the home front, Nandha's passport process is slowly moving along. The process has become slightly complicated because I am sitting here. Expecting them to join me as soon as Nandha's visa is done - hopefully sometime in April - May.

Alrighty...looks like a short story this time - you've been spared. :-) 

Chetty